HHSCM Alumni Spotlight

What motivated you to pursue this certificate?

I remember graduating [from my undergraduate program] back in 2017 and thinking to myself, what's next? I've always kind of been just a student of life, trying to get as much core competency knowledge as possible in whatever area it is that I'm interested in or that I'm focused in. At the time, I had just taken an internship with Kaiser Permanente and I knew that I really liked the role and I liked the organization, and I wanted to prove my value. I wanted to prove that I was curious and hungry for more knowledge in this space. So I realized the Health and Humanitarian Supply Chain Management certification gave me the flexibility to expand my knowledge and core competencies and like logistics and problem solving...And I really enjoyed the fact that I had the opportunity to kind of just deepen my understanding and learning, especially around supply chains in the healthcare space.

What were some of the most valuable takeaways that you were able to apply either in your role at the time or your current role?

It really provided a strong foundation for me in systems level thinking. So even though I don't necessarily work in the supply chain space, I do work in healthcare management and healthcare administration, which of course involves a component of supply chain management, right? That problem solving and that systems level thinking really helped me with complex healthcare environments that I've been a part of since achieving that certificate. And it really changed the way that I approached leadership and innovation. I think I was the youngest of my cohort at the time and I just remember learning from so many different people in the health and humanitarian supply chain management space. So being so young and kind of having that, you know, that that influence definitely changed my approach to just the way that I see health systems interact with one another. And I've definitely carried those skills with me today.

How have the organizations you have worked for benefited from your participation in the certificate program?

The core competencies and the skillsets that came from the intensive instruction, the projects, and the group work during this certificate program definitely helped me with the way I approach leadership, innovation, and systems-level thinking and applying that to program and project management in the healthcare space. I think this certification gave me a path towards thinking differently in this space, and because I do think that the organizations that I serve have benefited from having a diverse way of thinking.

In your opinion, who would benefit from taking this professional education course?

A lot of people don't even know that this exists or they might know it exists, but they're like okay well, I'm not a supply chain management professional. How does it help me? Well, it helps to differentiate yourself in the healthcare management space, because there aren't a lot of people that have this experience and have those core competencies to take and go to other organizations. I want more people to know, particularly in the healthcare administration space, that there's so much more to healthcare administration than administration and management, right? And when you start to explore those different components, you kind of build your healthcare management persona and bringing that to an organization gives them a unique perspective.

If you had to recommend the program in just a few words or a sentence, what would you say?

Looking back, this certificate was definitely a pivotal moment in my journey. It was one of the first steps in shaping my professional trajectory in the healthcare management space. So I would say it reinforced the importance of investing in myself and investing in learning a new skill set and core competency in the healthcare management space.